Bennington County Conservation District (BCCD) would like to provide additional context related to the Community Resilience Municipal Workshop Pilot being hosted in Pownal on June 5, 2026, in collaboration with Community Resilience Organizations (CROs) and with partial funding support from the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD).

We understand that community members may have questions about the purpose of the workshop, the role of partner organizations, the ownership and handling of participant information, and the intended outcome of the event. Those are fair questions. BCCD is a public conservation district, and our responsibility is to be clear, transparent, and accountable to the communities we serve.

This statement is intended to clarify BCCD’s role, explain why the workshop falls within the District’s statutory mission, and answer the most important public questions related to funding, data, governance, and the end goal of the workshop.

Clarifications and Additional Context

Several claims and implications have circulated regarding the Pownal workshop that require clarification.

First, BCCD is not a stand in for an outside private organization and is not an unelected state agency. BCCD was democratically constituted by public referendum in 1946 under Vermont’s Soil Conservation Act of 1939. The District is governed by a Board of Supervisors, and its meetings are open to the public, recorded, and available upon request. BCCD publishes calls for candidates and strongly encourages residents to participate in District governance. When vacancies remain uncontested, the Board fills them through the process authorized under its governing structure so that the District can continue to function as a public body.

BCCD also consulted with Pownal town officials before finalizing Pownal as the location for the workshop, after conducting outreach to additional towns. Pownal also has representation within BCCD’s governance structure through Associate Supervisor Jeannie Alexander, who has served on the BCCD Board of Supervisors since December 2023 and is also an elected member of the Pownal Select Board.

Second, BCCD was not assigned this workshop by VCRD or CROs. BCCD is the applicant, organizer, and lead facilitator. BCCD reviewed multiple assessment options and selected the Community Resilience Assessment as the most comprehensive and viable tool for this pilot. BCCD also designed the local workshop framework. This workshop builds on a broader series of BCCD-led community resilience forums and workshops that began with the Community Resilience Forum hosted in September 2023.

Third, CROs’ role is limited. CROs created the assessment instrument and is providing pre-event planning support and facilitation support. CROs is not responsible for final data analysis and will not author the final report. BCCD staff will hold the raw response data, conduct the analysis, prepare the report, and publish the final product. CROs may hear discussion in the room as facilitation support, but CROs will not receive, store, analyze, retain, or control the raw participant response data.

Fourth, VCRD will not be present at the workshop. VCRD is providing partial funding support through the Climate Catalysts Innovation Fund. VCRD will receive only the aggregated and anonymized final report after BCCD completes the participant review and comment process.

Finally, BCCD has not hidden the involvement of partner organizations. CROs is named on the event page, its website is linked, and the input form identifies CROs as the originator and owner of the assessment instrument. BCCD’s privacy policy is linked at the bottom of the website. That said, BCCD recognizes that more direct public explanation is useful, which is why we are providing this FAQ.

What exactly is BCCD’s role in the workshop?

BCCD is the lead organizer and facilitator of this event.

BCCD staff designed the workshop agenda, selected the Community Resilience Assessment tool, coordinated the event, and will lead the workshop. BCCD staff will also exercise independent judgment in reviewing participant input and authoring the final report.

Community Resilience Organizations will attend to assist with facilitation and group exercises only. CROs will not be responsible for the final analysis, will not hold the raw data, and will not author the final report.

The Vermont Council on Rural Development will not be present at the workshop. VCRD will not receive raw participant responses. VCRD will receive only the aggregated and anonymized final report after the participant feedback process is complete.

Why is BCCD hosting this workshop?

In short, because this work falls directly within the statutory purpose of a Conservation District. This workshop is an extension of the continuous community engagement we have done throughout Bennington County for the past three years beginning with the Community Resilience Forum in September 2023. 

BCCD’s statutory obligations and purpose are established under Vermont’s Soil Conservation Act, 10 V.S.A. ch. 31, as approved by the Vermont Legislature and by the voters of Bennington County through the creation of the District.

Under 10 V.S.A. § 701, it is the policy of the State of Vermont:

“to provide for the conservation, development, and use of the natural resources of this State,” recognizing that the lands, waters, forests, and wildlife of Vermont are among the basic assets of the State, and that their preservation through conservation, development, and use is necessary to protect and promote the health, safety, and general welfare of its people.

That statutory purpose includes the powers and responsibilities granted to Conservation District supervisors under 10 V.S.A. § 723, including the authority:

“To conduct surveys, investigations and research” relating to soil erosion, erosion prevention, and natural resources conservation;

“To cooperate, or enter into agreements with” agencies, governmental or otherwise, or landowners within the District, in carrying out erosion-control, erosion-prevention, and natural-resource conservation work; and

“To develop comprehensive plans” for the conservation of soil resources, the control and prevention of soil erosion, and the protection and conservation of natural resources within the District, and to bring those plans and related information to the attention of land occupiers within the District.

That is the legal and practical basis for BCCD’s involvement. Conservation District work is not limited to individual farm, forest, or water-quality projects. It also includes listening to communities, identifying local natural-resource concerns, understanding vulnerabilities, coordinating partners, developing plans, and helping residents and municipalities access technical assistance and funding.

Information that BCCD staff hear during the workshop and through post-workshop feedback will be used to inform District workflow and planning processes so that we can better serve the residents, landowners, land managers, and municipality of Pownal.

In practice, that kind of work has previously included providing technical assistance and program navigation to working lands stewards in Pownal, helping bring hundreds of thousands of dollars into conservation projects on Pownal farms, authoring a $3.2 million grant application for private-lands soil bioremediation of PFAS in Pownal, Bennington, North Bennington, and Shaftsbury, and assisting with smaller but important efforts like live staking the collapsed riverbank threatening the Hoosic Bend Trail.

The workshop is one more tool for understanding local needs and improving how BCCD delivers services and support.

Who funded the workshop?

The workshop is partially funded through a $4,000 award from the Vermont Council on Rural Development’s Climate Catalysts Innovation Fund. Additional funds are being allocated from BCCD’s Core Services grant which is funded directly by the Legislature to cover food and staff time planning the event and retained earnings from previous Agricultural Clean Water Initiative Program grant agreement as is allowed under that program. 

BCCD applied for this funding to increase its capacity to help Bennington County municipalities assess local strengths and vulnerabilities, identify practical strategies for preparedness, and connect municipal and community partners with technical assistance and resources. 

VCRD is not directing the workshop, facilitating the event, selecting participant input, analyzing the results, or authoring the report. BCCD is responsible for the local design, facilitation, data handling, analysis, and final reporting process.

What is the Community Resilience Assessment, and why was it selected?

The Community Resilience Assessment is an assessment instrument created by Community Resilience Organizations. BCCD selected it after reviewing multiple options and determining that it was the most comprehensive and viable tool for this pilot workshop.

BCCD’s use of the assessment does not mean that every participant, town official, or community member is expected to agree with every premise, category, or benchmark included in the tool. The assessment is being used as a structured conversation aid. It is not a binding judgment on the values of the Town of Pownal, its residents, its boards, or its future priorities.

Participants are welcome to challenge the premise of questions, identify categories that do not fit Pownal, name concerns with the tool, and recommend different ways of measuring local resilience. That feedback is not a problem with the process. It is part of the process.

Who owns the assessment? Who owns the data?

CROs owns the assessment instrument. That means CROs created and owns the questions and framework contained in the assessment.

BCCD will hold the raw participant response data generated through this workshop. BCCD will conduct the analysis, prepare an aggregated and anonymized draft report, and distribute that draft to participants for review, notes, objections, and removal requests before publication.

Owning the questions and holding the data generated through participant responses are separate issues. CROs owns the assessment tool. BCCD will hold and manage the response data collected through the Pownal workshop.

What information is being collected?

BCCD may collect basic registration information, such as name, email address, town, role, and participant interest in the workshop. During the workshop, participants may also provide responses to assessment questions, group discussion notes, comments, and post-workshop feedback.

BCCD will use this information to understand community-identified strengths, vulnerabilities, needs, concerns, and opportunities related to conservation, preparedness, municipal capacity, and natural-resource resilience.

BCCD will not publish personally identifiable raw responses. The final report will be aggregated and anonymized. Participants will have an opportunity to review the draft report, offer notes or objections, and request removal of their input before the final report is released.

Who will receive the information?

BCCD staff will hold and review the raw participant response data.

CROs and BCCD have equal access to responses to the initial community resilience assessment, to aid in planning and facilitation. CROs will assist with facilitation and group exercises during the workshop but will not be responsible for the final analysis or report.

VCRD will not receive raw participant responses. VCRD will receive only the aggregated and anonymized final report after the participant feedback process is complete.

The public will receive the final aggregated and anonymized report once the participant review process is complete.

Will participants be paid?

Yes. Participants will be offered a small stipend for attending the workshop.

BCCD offers stipends for public participation whenever funding allows because people’s time has value, and because compensation can reduce barriers to participation for residents who may otherwise be unable to attend. For this workshop, BCCD has a small budget available for participant stipends. That budget will be distributed evenly among eligible participants based on the number of people who attend.

Eligibility is simple: participants must show up and remain for the full workshop.

The stipend is not contingent on agreement with BCCD, CROs, VCRD, the assessment tool, the premise of the workshop, or any particular outcome. Participants are welcome to support the process, question it, challenge the framing of the assessment, disagree with other participants, or raise concerns. The stipend compensates people for their time and participation, not for a viewpoint or result.

Does this workshop create a municipal commission, committee, plan, or obligation?

No.

The workshop does not create a municipal commission, committee, task force, or standing governance body. It does not bind the Town of Pownal. It does not adopt a municipal plan. It does not substitute for the Pownal Select Board, Planning Commission, Conservation Commission, town meeting, warned public hearings, or any other local democratic decision-making process.

Any future municipal action would have to occur through the appropriate municipal process.

BCCD may use what it learns from the workshop to improve District planning, technical assistance, program navigation, grant development, and conservation service delivery. That is the purpose of the workshop.

Is this workshop part of a political or ideological state-led process?

No.

BCCD’s statutory purpose and mission is not to advance a partisan or ideological agenda. It is to assist in the careful and considered conservation, development, and use of natural resources within Bennington County, guided by the expressed needs, concerns, and aspirations of the people, municipalities, landowners, and land managers within the District.

Like most public-serving conservation entities, BCCD relies on a mix of public funding, grants, partnerships, and technical assistance resources to carry out that mandate. That includes working with partner organizations such as the Vermont Council on Rural Development when those resources help us support municipalities, improve preparedness, strengthen local capacity, and better serve the communities of Bennington County.

We value the perspectives of all community members equally. That includes people who agree with the premise of a workshop, people who are skeptical of it, and people who want to challenge the questions being asked. Dissenting voices are not a problem to be managed. They are part of how locally led work becomes more honest, more useful, and more accountable.

BCCD’s role is to help ask better questions, listen carefully to the answers, and use that input to deliver better results for the communities we serve.

Can participants disagree with the assessment or the workshop premise?

Yes.

Participants are welcome to disagree with the assessment tool, challenge the framing of questions, object to categories they believe are inappropriate, identify missing local priorities, and recommend alternative ways of understanding resilience in Pownal.

A useful public process should not require agreement in advance. BCCD wants honest input, including critical input. That is especially important in locally led conservation work, where the purpose is to understand what people actually see, experience, need, and value in the places where they live and work.

What will BCCD do with the results?

BCCD will use the workshop results to better understand how the District can serve Pownal and other Bennington County municipalities through conservation planning, technical assistance, grant development, program navigation, watershed work, flood resilience, working lands support, and natural-resource conservation.

The final report may help BCCD identify service gaps, local priorities, funding opportunities, technical assistance needs, and potential future projects. It may also help residents and municipal officials see where there is agreement, where there are concerns, and where additional discussion is needed.

The report will not be treated as a binding municipal decision or as a substitute for formal local action.

Will participants be able to review the report before publication?

Yes.

BCCD will prepare an aggregated and anonymized draft report and provide it to participants for review before final publication. Participants may submit notes, corrections, objections, or requests that their input be removed.

After that review process is complete, BCCD will publish and distribute the final report consistent with its statutory responsibility to develop and share plans and information related to the conservation and protection of natural resources within the District.

How can members of the public request records or ask additional questions?

BCCD is a public conservation district and will respond to public records requests consistent with applicable law.

Members of the public may request records related to BCCD’s role in the workshop, including the grant award letter, workshop agenda, publicly available outreach materials, assessment materials, privacy policy, and final report.

Questions about BCCD’s role, data handling, workshop process, or final report may be directed to Michael Fernandez at michael@bccdvt.org.

Questions about VCRD’s organizational governance, CROs’ statewide work, state-agency funding streams, or municipal actions in other towns should be directed to those organizations or municipalities directly.

We understand that trust is built through transparency, not assumed because an organization believes its intentions are good.

The purpose of this workshop is to listen, learn, and improve how BCCD serves the people and municipality of Pownal. The workshop does not bind the town, create a new municipal body, impose a plan, or require participants to agree with any predetermined framework.

BCCD’s responsibility is to carry out its statutory mission in a way that is locally grounded, publicly accountable, and useful to the communities we serve. That means being clear about who is involved, how funding is used, how information is handled, and what the workshop can and cannot do.

We welcome participation, questions, disagreement, and scrutiny. That is how public work gets better.